best city in america

[BunsGettingFirm]

Originally Posted by mn54

So here I am approaching ER, trying to decide where I would like to live after retiring, when lo and behold MONEY mag. decides I am already living in the best city. Now MONEY is not held in the highest esteem on this forum, but it was still quite a surprise they would pick a city up here on the frozen tundra.

MN54, you're wrong. MONEY has attained god-like status on this forum. Well, at least 4% SWR of MONYE has. Just kidding. I see that Fort Collins is listed as a great place to live. I'm not surprised. I really enjoyed my 5 years there as an outdoors nut. The cultural activities aren't too bad. CSU puts on a decent concert series, and there's live music in downtown bars every weekend, and the microbrewery scene is very much alive. The only down side is that the major airport is 75 minutes away door to door if you drive fast. If you take the shuttle, it could be 90 minutes to 2 hours away. Now that FC has been picked by both Money and Forbes magazine, Swamy sees more traffic jams ahead.

[BunsGettingFirm]

Originally Posted by mn54

Since we're discussing temps. Which is worse. Freezing cold in MN in the winter or Steaming hot in FL or AZ in the summer? I say the heat is worse because you can always put on another layer of clothing to stay warm if it's cold but you can only take off so much and you're still hot.

Hmm....hot weather where women take off as much as they can. I wouldn't complain about that vs. northern winters where all the hot chicks are bundled up like penguins.

[unclemick]

Originally Posted by REWahoo

I tried that approach Tom and it doesn't work very well...

How about: they are predicting a bad tornado season in Tonganoxie next year!

Wouldn't something like that slow em down?

I mean scorpions are - well, so little!

heh heh heh - one guy at the doughnut shop had a friend bitten by a Brown Recluse the other week. But they aren't evacuating Kansas City yet.

[Notmuchlonger]

Originally Posted by BunsGettingFirm

Hmm....hot weather where women take off as much as they can. I wouldn't complain about that vs. northern winters where all the hot chicks are bundled up like penguins.

Hmm but northern chicks know how to keep you warm at night

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by mn54

So here I am approaching ER, trying to decide where I would like to live after retiring, when lo and behold MONEY mag. decides I am already living in the best city. Now MONEY is not held in the highest esteem on this forum, but it was still quite a surprise they would pick a city up here on the frozen tundra.

It was interesting to me that their Top 100 did not include ANY communities in Louisiana or Arkansas. The only locations they selected in Missouri are suburbs clustered around St. Louis or Kansas City.

One of the most appealing towns I have ever seen was not included: Huntsville, Alabama. Also not included were Springfield, Missouri (our tentative ER location), and Hot Springs, Arkansas, both of which are delightful communities as well.

I enjoy articles like this, because they reinforce the observation that different people are looking for different attributes in their "Top 100". That is reassuring to us. We are hoping to quietly fit into the existing community as it is, rather than finding ourselves in someone else's idea of a "retirement mecca".

[ziggy29]

Originally Posted by Want2retire

It was interesting to me that their Top 100 did not include ANY communities in Louisiana or Arkansas. The only locations they selected in Missouri are suburbs clustered around St. Louis or Kansas City.

Looking more closely at the list, it's decidedly NOT a list for retirees. It seems to be the "best suburbs for dual-income yuppie couples to raise kids."

Most of the cities listed are indeed suburbs, and fairly pricey ones to boot. Many retirees are looking for low cost of living, particularly housing prices and taxes, and not so much the quality of the schools which this list seems to put a heavy emphasis on.

[haha]

Originally Posted by ziggy29

Most of the cities listed are indeed suburbs, and fairly pricey ones to boot. Many retirees are looking for low cost of living, particularly housing prices and taxes, and not so much the quality of the schools which this list seems to put a heavy emphasis on.

Unless you are moving to an age controlled retirement village, the quality of the schools is important even if you have no kids. The reason is that school quality strongly feeds into neighborhood quality, which strongly feeds into population demographics, which feeds into crime, which feeds into happiness in living there.

Also, good schools are a powerful anchor to support real estate prices when the market is soft.

Ha

[ziggy29]

Originally Posted by haha

Unless you are moving to an age controlled retirement village, the quality of the schools is important even if you have no kids. The reason is that school quality strongly feeds into neighborhood quality, which strongly feeds into population demographics, which feeds into crime, which feeds into happiness in living there.

Also, good schools are a powerful anchor to support real estate prices when the market is soft.

Fair enough, but in terms of what's most important to typical retirees, it's likely a bit lower on the list than this particular piece made it.

[mb]

Originally Posted by lynxville

Born and raised in the Midwest, I can honestly say I hate winter. So to solve the hot summer and below zero winter dilema, I am buying a house in Florida for winter and keep my cabin in the Midwest for summer.

I'll pick my favorite city to live not some magazine.

Or you could just buy one house in California. Opps, forgot, you can buy a house in FL and another in the midwest and perhaps another one in the middle so you don't have to do the drive in just one day for the price of one CA house.

MB

[mn54]

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger

Hmm but northern chicks know how to keep you warm at night

I'll second that. Nothing like warming up by the fireplace when it's cold outside.

[clifp]

In the 80s lots of states/cities were trying to jump start their high tech industry by stealing companies and workers from Silicon Valley.

They'd often develop multi page advertising supplement for the newspaper or regional edition of technology magazine.

I got a kick how they various states handled the weather issues (which was pretty much always worse than Northern California). IIRC, the folks in MN highlighted the Average day time temperature which being in the 50s didn't seem so bad.

Thinking back would you really want to hire an engineer who fell for such stupid statistical trick?

[CuppaJoe]

Originally Posted by clifp

In the 80s lots of states/cities were trying to jump start their high tech industry by stealing companies and workers from Silicon Valley.

They'd often develop multi page advertising supplement for the newspaper or regional edition of technology magazine.

I got a kick how they various states handled the weather issues (which was pretty much always worse than Northern California). IIRC, the folks in MN highlighted the Average day time temperature which being in the 50s didn't seem so bad.

Thinking back would you really want to hire an engineer who fell for such stupid statistical trick?

Even Northern California gets spun. I did a few projects at a well-known company headquartered in Oakland. They recruit management trainees with BAs and MBAs out the ten best business schools. One day my group went to lunch at a trendy spot. On the car ride over they were telling how they show potential employees around: We drive them this way, not that way, go around the lake instead of the direct route, drive by (unfortunate choice of words, I'll leave it) the rose garden, point out the museum and other points of interest.

They have an unwritten perk which I don't know how they explain to job seekers but I've seen it done many times. The company finds a way to send new employees back east to work and more importantly to spend time with their love interests and families--three/four times a year.

Any magazine worth its salt would put that company high up on a list of the best places to work. I've also seen that anyone who survives the management training program can pick their next Fortune 500 company, and I've seen many of them pop up in easier-to-recruit locations.

[mb]

Originally Posted by clifp

In the 80s lots of states/cities were trying to jump start their high tech industry by stealing companies and workers from Silicon Valley.

They'd often develop multi page advertising supplement for the newspaper or regional edition of technology magazine.

I got a kick how they various states handled the weather issues (which was pretty much always worse than Northern California). IIRC, the folks in MN highlighted the Average day time temperature which being in the 50s didn't seem so bad.

Thinking back would you really want to hire an engineer who fell for such stupid statistical trick?

I liked the billboard with the picture of a large grassy space filled with trees with a caption that went something like this:

"In Silicon Valley they call this a park. In Minnesota we call it a backyard."

I'm pretty snobbish on this but any place where I have to shovel snow or where it is regularly over 90F or where humidity is significant is eliminated as my "best place to live!"

MB, in a location where the 10 day forcast has a predicted high of 82F a low of 56F with a 20% chance of rain (which I think is highly exaggerated since in my 25 years in the area I doubt there has been more than a cumulative total of 1" of rain duing the entire month of August) and who is looking forward to a 50 mile bike ride through the northern California oaks, manzanita and redwoods tomorrow.

[Ronstar]

Spent yesterday in #3 Naperville, Il. I know they have good schools, good weather maybe 6 mo's a year, but traffic is a nightmare within 60 miles of Chicago. I can think of a lot of better places.

Generally I would prefer the sunbelt weather, but the midwest is holding its own this week.